Fireplace accessory for burning newspapers

ABSTRACT

A T-shaped metal base supporting a vertical metal member on the upper end of which a horizontal paper supporting arm is pivotally supported at one of its ends to swing freely on a vertical axis, the stem of the base, the vertical member and the arm each being approximately 18 inches in length.

United States Patent [191 Schwenk Jan. 8, 1974 FIREPLACE ACCESSORY FOR BURNING NEWSPAPERS [76] Inventor: George B. Schwenk, Yucca Valley,

Calif. 92284 [22] Filed: June 5, 1972 [2]] App]. No; 259,493

[52] U.S. Cl. 126/164, 126/298 [51] Int. Cl F23h 13/00 [58] Field of Search 126/126, 137, 164,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,174,435 9/1939 Boyter 126/298 X 2,960,979 1 l/ 1960 Stone 126/298 X 2,964,202 12/ l 960 Gingher et a1. 248/121 3,139,882 7/1964 White 126/137 3,307,532 3/ I967 Hume 126/165 X Primary Examiner-William F. ODea Assistant Examiner-Peter D. Ferguson AtromeyDana E. Keech [57] ABSTRACT A T-shaped metal base supporting a vertical metal member on the upper end of which a horizontal paper supporting arm .is pivotally supported at one of its ends to swing freely on a vertical axis, the stem of the base, the vertical member and the arm each being approximately 18 inches in length.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION While waste newspapers are rapidly consumed by fire when properly aerated, the usual stack of old newspapers when placed in a fireplace and ignited burns relatively slowly and produces an abnormal amount of smoke. Furthermore, newspapers burned in this manner often leave acharred mass of partly burned paper in the fireplace.

' It is an object of the present invention to provide a fireplace accessory by which a bundle of newspapers can be supported in a fireplace for burning the same in such a manner that the natural draft produced by the burning paper completely consumes the latter.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an accessory which normally fits against a wall of the FIREPLACE fireplace so as not to interfere with the normal use of the latter and yet is always available for the burning of newspapers in the fireplace whenever this is desirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view from the front of a fireplace in which three modified forms of the invention are illustrated, two of which are shown as positioned for burning a bundle of old newspapers draped over the device. 1

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and illustrating the preferred form of the invention with the upper newspaper supporting bar thereof folded against the back wall of the fireplace as when the device is not in use.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic vertical sectional view taken on the line 33-of FIG. 1 and illustrates a modified form of the invention as this is supported in the fireplace in position for burning a bundle of old newspapers.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the second modified form of the invention illustrating the manner in which the horizontal newspaper supporting arm thereof is pivotally supported on a wall bracket mounted on a side wall of the fireplace.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is for use in connection with a fireplace 10, a conventional design of such a fireplace being shown in the drawings as including a floor 11 which is sunk a short distance below the tile hearth 12; a back wall 13, end walls 14 and 15 and a ceiling 16 having a draft throat 17 leading to the chimney flue (not shown). The drawings also show a preferred embodiment 18 of the invention, a modified form 19 thereof and a second modified form 20.

Accessory 18 includes a four-way half inch pipe fitting 25 from which short half inch pipe lengths 26 extend in opposite directions therefrom while a substantially longer half inch pipe length 27 extends from fitting 25 at right angles with pipe lengths 26. Outer ends of pipe lengths 26 and 27 are covered by caps 28. Extending from the fitting 25 and at a right angle with the plane of pipe lengths 26 and 27 is a vertical pipe length 29 which is approximately the same length as pipe length 27 and is open at its upper end. The accessory 18, has a horizontal swinging newspaper supporting arm 30 which is adapted for optional use, either in the pre- 2 ferred embodiment 18 of the invention or in the second modified form 20 thereof. The arm 30 is shown in detail in the enlarged view of FIG. 4 as associated with the modification 20. When incorporated with the preferred accessory 18 however, it has identically the same structure and includes a horizontal 18 inch by 96 inch pipe 31 having a cap 32 at its outer end and an elbow 33 at its opposite end which connects pipe 31 with a short pipe section 34 which serves as a pivot pin for the arm 30. A flat plate 35 about I r inch wide is secured to the top of pipe length 31 by bolts 36, said plate being co-extensive with pipe 31. Pivot pin 34 of arm 30 extends into the upper end of pipe length 29 and pivotally supports said arm horizontally on the device 18.

When the preferred embodiment 18 of the invention is positioned as shown in FIG. 1 with the arm 30 approximately parallel with the pipe 27, it is in readiness for receiving abundle 40 of folded newspapers looped over the arm 30 as shown in FIG. 1 in readiness for igniting the same. When thus arranged and set on fire the bundle of papers 40 quickly burns leaving nothing but light ash which is carried away by the fireplace draft. After thus using the preferred accessory 18, the arm 30 is simply swung into parallelism with and against the back wall 13 of the fireplace as shown in FIG. 2 which disposes this accessory out of the way of the normal use of the fireplace 10 in burning logs of wood therein.

The modified form of the invention shown in the fireplace accessory 19 comprises a vertical half inch pipe length 41 about 18 inches long with a 9 inch by one and one-half inch plate 42 secured by bolt 43 to its lower end. Screwed on the upper end of pipe 41 is a reduction elbow 44 which connects pipe 41 with a horizontal three-eighths inch pipe length 45 which is approximately 18 inches long and has acne and one-half inch wide metal strip 46 secured to the upper surface thereofby bolts 47.

As shown in FIG. 3, the modified accessory 19 when in position for use is held in the fireplace in upright position by the plate 42 engaging the inner edge of the hearth 12 and the back end of pipe 45 resting against the fireplace back wall. 13. When the device is thus positioned, a bundle 48 of oldnewspapers (shown in broken lines in FIG. 3 and in full lines in FIG..1) is draped over the plate 46 and set on fire. When the papers are burned, the accessory 19 is fitted flat into a comer of the fireplace 10, such as in the space where the end wall 15, the floor 11 and back wall 13 meet so that the device 19 will not interfere with the normal use of the fireplace 10.

The modification 20 of the invention includes a standard wall flange pipe fitting 55 which-is connected by a short nipple 56 with a T fitting 57 having screwed into the lower end thereof a pipe nipple 58 closed at its lower end by a pipe cap 59. The fitting 57 is a half inch T and pipe nipple 58 is of half inch pipe so that the inch pivot pin 34 of the arm 30 fits into and journals in the pipe nipple 58 allowingthe arm 30 to swing in a horizontal plane into whatever position it is desired to place this for use in burning a bundle of newspapers. The preferred position for this however, for burning papers, in view of the location of the device in a back corner of the fireplace 10, is with the arm 30 extending outwardly at an angle of 45 from the axis of its pivot pin 34. After using the modified form of the invention 20 for burning a bundle of newspapers, the arm 30 may be swung against either the back wall 13 of the tireplace or against the end wall 15 thereof.

A suitable horizontal tapped hole is provided in the lower end of pipe 41 and plate 42 into which an adjustment screw 60 is screwed to compensate for variations in depth of the floor 11 in the fireplace in which accessory 19 may be used, so that plate 46 will always be level when burning papers 48 draped over the same.

I claim:

1. An accessory for burning newspapers in a fireplace, comprising:

a T-shaped horizontal base, the stem element of which is substantially longer than the cross head elements thereof;

a straight member rigidly fixed to said base at the intersection of said stem and cross head elements and rising vertically therefrom;

a straight arm having a pivotal connection on a vertical axis at one end thereof with the upper end of said vertical member, thereby supporting said arm horizontally with said arm freely swingable about said axis between an operative position in which said arm is parallel with said base stem element, for supporting a stack of newspapers folded over said arm for burning said newspapers, and an inoperative position in which said arm is swung from said operative position, said stem element, said vertical member and said arm being approximately equal in length.

2. A fireplace accessory as recited in claim 1 wherein said base stem element, said straight vertical member and said horizontally swingable arm are each approximately eighteen inches long.

3. A fireplace accessory as recited in claim 2 wherein said base elements and said vertical member comprise sections of half inch pipe united by a four way pipe fitting, and wherein said horizontal arm comprises a section of threeeighths inch pipe connected at one end by a right elbow to a three-eighths inch pipe nipple which is pivotally received by the upper end of said vertical member to horizontally swingably mount said arm on said member. 

1. An accessory for burning newspapers in a fireplace, comprising: a T-shaped horizontal base, the stem element of which is substantially longer than the cross head elements thereof; a straight member rigidly fixed to said base at the intersection of said stem and cross head elements and rising vertically therefrom; a straight arm having a pivotal connection on a vertical axis at one end thereof with the upper end of said vertical member, thereby supporting said arm horizontally with said arm freely swingable about said axis between an operative position in which said arm is parallel with said base stem element, for supporting a stack of newspapers folded over said arm for burning said newspapers, and an inoperative position in which said arm is swung 90* from said operative position, said stem element, said vertical member and said arm being approximately equal in length.
 2. A fireplace accessory as recited in claim 1 wherein said base stem element, said straight vertical member and said horizontally swingable arm are each approximately eighteen inches long.
 3. A fireplace accessory as recited in claim 2 wherein said base elements and said vertical member comprise sections of half inch pipe united by a four way pipe fitting, and wherein said horizontal arm comprises a section of three-eighths inch pipe connected at one end by a right elbow to a three-eighths inch pipe nipple which is pivotally received by the upper end of said vertical member to horizontally swingably mount said arm on said member. 